


Tema de Muerte

by Maxmerica



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Coco Locos Angst Off 2018, Family Bonding, Gen, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Horrible Ways to Die, Hugs, Mentions of Cancer, Self-Blame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 04:04:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16110425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maxmerica/pseuds/Maxmerica
Summary: Hector tries to bond with Victora by talking about her death.





	Tema de Muerte

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt used: "Let's not get into it. Nobody likes a sob-story."

     It had only been a few months since Día de Muertos and Héctor was still getting used to his family. Even though it was sometimes uncomfortable he found himself asking how each of them died. He need to know, as morbid as that may have sounded. For the most part, his family was oddly happy to tell him. Imelda had died in 1971 of a heart attack. Óscar and Felipe had died in car accident in 1976. Rosita had died of heatstroke in 1980. Júlio had died in 1991 in his sleep. The only family member he hadn’t learned about yet was Victoria. Every time he tried to breach the subject he would freeze up. ‘Dios she’s so young,’ he would think. ‘She can’t have died peacefully. Asking her would just upset her.’ That would end today he decided. Plucking up the courage and drawing on strength he didn’t know he had he asked, “Mija, how...how did you die?”  
   

 

    “Let’s not get into it. Nobody likes a sob-story,” Victoria said swiftly said not even looking up from her work.

      “Okay I understand talking about your death can hurt,” Héctor said. “Can you at least tell me how old you were Vico?”  
 

    “Stop por favor,” Victoria snapped gathering up her work and leaving the workshop. Héctor knew that is unusual for Victoria to be both emotional and short with people especially family so he followed her out towards the house. Luckily for him, she was sitting in the living room.

     “Lo siento if I upset you Victoria,” Héctor said as he sat down across from his granddaughter. “I just want to get to know you like I know the rest of the family. I figured that the best way to start to do that would be to talk about your death. After talking about the absolute worst thing to happen to happen in your life, I figured that it would be easier to talk about the rest of your life.”

     “It’s my fault Tío Òscar and Tío Felipe died,” Victoria mumbled.  
 

      “¿Qué,” Héctor asked completely thrown off.  
 

       “I said it’s my fault Tío Óscar and Tío Felipe died. That’s why I don’t want to talk about my death.”  
 

       “Why do you think it’s your fault princesa?”

      “If I wasn’t sick I wouldn’t have been in the hospital. If wasn’t in the hospital they wouldn’t have been driving on that road at night and they wouldn’t have been in the accident. So yeah it’s kind of my fault that the died,” Victoria said getting up and pacing halfway through her explanation.  
 

   “You do know that they don’t blame you right?”  
 

     “¿Què,” Victoria asked sitting back down.  
 

      “Yeah, they don’t blame you they blame the drunk cabron who hit them. ¿Entendres mija?”

       “Sí.”

      “So you said you were in the hospital, what..what did you have?”  
     

       “Cancer.”

      “Lo siento corozoncita. What kind?”

      “Intravascular lymphoma or ILBCL.”

        “When… When were you diagnosed?”

        “About two months after Abuelita died.”

       “Lo siento. How did you live for so long after Imelda’s death?”

      “Sometimes I forget that you’re uno viejo,” Victoria said under her breath. “Cancer treatments, especially for leukemia and lymphoma, have gotten a lot better since you died. They were even pretty good when I died. I was treated by using chemotherapy. It’s a series of drugs that kill the cancer cells.”

    “How long did you live for after you were diagnosed?”  
 

      “Eight years.”

      “Wow. How did you know we’re sick in the first place?”

      “I didn’t realize that I was sick at first not really anyway. ILBCL starts of very benign. I was feeling more tired than usual but I figured that it was just because Abuelita had just died and I was working more since Elena was about to have a baby. I also had a rash but I had eczema and figured that I was just stressed out. The day that Berto was born I was feeling particularly bad since I also had a fever. So when Elena went in to have the baby, Mamà and Papà took me to see another doctor at the hospital.” During Victoria’s explanation, Hèctor sat there taking in what she was saying. When it seemed that she had stopped for the time being Hèctor decided to ask a question.

      “How did the doctor know that you had cancer?”  
 

      “When we went to see him he heard my symptoms and he took a biopsy. I guess on some level he knew I had cancer and he just wanted to be sure. By the time the doctor was sure that I had ILBCL, Elena had already had the baby so at least we were all able to see Berto be born. However, IBCL is very aggressive not mention rare so the doctor knew that they’d have to be aggressive with treatment. It’s a good thing we caught it early though; it made treating it a lot easier. The only thing was that I had to go back to the hospital within a week to start treatment. Mamá and Papá stayed with me the whole time. The rest of the familia would visit after they closed the shop for the day. We all would have dinner just like at home even if sometimes the chemo made me too nauseous to want to risk eating. Thankfully I wasn’t in the hospital the whole eight years. I would be in the hospital for a month at a time then I would go back home for a couple months. I actually died at home rather than the hospital.”

       “Oh mija. Lo siento. Were you back home because it was the end?”

         “No. I was in-between rounds of chemo. Completely normal.”  
 

        “Then how exactly did you die?”  
 

        “Remember how I said chemo makes you nauseous,” Victoria asked tentatively. Hèctor nodded in understanding. “Well, sometimes the symptoms would last for a couple of days after I got back home. This time I also had a cold so I was stuck in bed. I guess I sneezed at the same time that I vomited while lying on my side because suddenly I couldn’t breathe and then I might have passed out because next thing I know I wake up dead with Abuelita, Tío Òscar, y Tío Felipe standing next to my bed.it was only a week until my fortieth,”Victoria said getting quiet near the end as she tried to hold herself together. Despite her hiding, her emotions Héctor immediately sensed that his granddaughter was in distress.

         Hugging Victoria Héctor whispered as he gently rocked her, “Shh. Pobrecita mija. It’s okay to cry. What happened to was terrible. Lo siento.Gracias for sharing that with me.”

        “Thank you for listening Abuelo,” Victoria said as she untangled herself from Hèctor.

        “Anytime mija,” Hèctor said as they both headed back towards the workshop.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for any poor Spanish!


End file.
